It is traditionally celebrated with firework displays across the globe at 00:00 in the local time zones.

History of New Year's Day

New Year's Day was originally observed on 15th March in the old Roman Calendar. When January and February were added during one of the many attempts to clean up the calendar, they were actually added to the end of the year.

The start of the year was fixed at 1st January in 153 BCE, by two Roman consuls. The month was named Janus after the name of the Roman god of doors and gates. Janus had two faces, one facing forward and one looking back, a fitting name for the month at the start of the year.

During the Middle Ages, a number of different Christian feast dates were used to mark the New Year, though calendars often continued to display the months in columns running from January to December in the Roman fashion.

It wasn't until 1582 when the Roman Catholic Church officially adopted 1 January as the New Year.

Most countries in Western Europe had officially adopted 1st January as New Year's Day even before they adopted the Gregorian calendar.

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Office Holidays provides calendars with dates and information on public holidays and bank holidays in key countries around the world.